Bad Company Second Opinion

Bad Company is a board game for 2-4 players that sits with games that have similar mechanics to Catan. Except the theme is a lot more fun. In Bad Company you are playing as a gang (for example, the Sneaky Ninjas, a very threatening gang name) with eleven members doing their best to complete heists, get loot, upgrade their members and evade the police.

Preparing For A Heist

There are a few different components to get together before starting a game. You have to put your gang board together with 2 and 12 being special characters that can help you exchange certain resources for others or drive faster. You get a little bit of money to start and you put your little car on the track.

The police car is always set a few spaces behind you and your rivals. Nothing bad actually happens to you if the police catch up to you (no actual arrests), but they are there to remove the bonuses on the track (which includes loot, money and points). If you cross certain points you get a bonus, which encourages you to move forward in the game. If you get there after the police, no loot for you. There are little shortcuts on the track if you want to get ahead too. Once one player reaches the end of the track, it’s the last turn and everyone only has one more opportunity to try and complete their heists.

You start the game with two heist cards, some are easier to complete than others but they also have variable rewards. The card will indicate the reward and once you’ve completed it, you flip the card over. You’re able to complete heists through your gang members. They all have different resources attached to them and if you activate a certain number, you get the resource (for example a lock, a torch or a glove) and you can choose which heist (or the fixer) to place the resource on.

On your turn you roll the four gold dice and the black police die and based on what you roll you can choose which two gang members you want to activate. Once you’ve announced what numbers you’re activating the other players can choose which one gang member they’ll activate from the numbers you’ve chosen. It’s a nice way to keep everyone engaged when it’s not your turn Catan-style. The police die determines how many spaces the police car will move (and sometimes it doesn’t move).

Wheelin’ And Stealin’

There are different things you can prioritise in Bad Company, whether it’s the upgrade track or completing heists or getting ahead of the police. All are satisfying in different ways.

Admittedly some of the loot rewards are a bit confusing, some let you do things like store extra resources but it can be difficult to know how to make that work when you’re starting the game. Often you’d just prefer the loot that gives you extra points or money. Kind of like 7 Wonders where you begin to understand the more complicated wonder powers, as you become more familiar with Bar Company, you can use those loot powers better.

The recruitment track is one of the best parts of the game, kind of like building a city in Catan but so much better. As you go up the recruitment track you get three upgrade cards and you get to upgrade one of your gang members, giving them insane legs and some extra resources if you choose to activate them. Like if you want satisfying, this is it. You pay your way up the recruitment track with the upgrades getting slightly more expensive as you go up. It’s definitely worth it. Though there is a limit to how many times you can upgrade as when you get to the end of the track, you pay for points not upgrades.

Also also gotta love the necklaces (or croissants). It’s kind of like Catan’s longest road on steroids as you’re constantly comparing your amount of loot with other players, and there are four different necklaces for art, diamonds, gold bars and money bags.

Crime Never Sleeps

I’m a big fan of Bad Company as it builds on a lot of good board game mechanics and gives it a quirky gloss of paint. Completing heists is fun, upgrading your gang is fun and wearing the necklaces is fun. While luck always plays a role in dice games, you normally can find ways to optimise your gang members and make a bad roll work. You also have the option to pay money to re-roll dice too if a bad roll is something really off putting for you.

I did a lot of Catan comparisons in this review but it takes a lot of really fun things about Catan and puts lots of good twists on them. It’s also nice when you’re teaching the game and can use Catan as a reference point. Definitely recommend Bad Company if you want an interesting take on this formula!